Local elementary schools will use 'Snowy Day' to attempt a new world record for reading

IUSD schools, in partnership with Team Kids, the Irvine Unified Council PTA and Jumpstart, will join a national effort to set a new world record for the most people reading the same book on the same day as part of “Read for the Record” on Thursday, Oct. 7. Launched in 2006 by Jumpstart, a national nonprofit, the Read for the Record campaign seeks to promote literacy and early education. Each fall a different book is picked for kids and adults to read on the same day, and this year’s choice is “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats. The 1962 classic is about – spoiler alert! – a little boy’s adventures in a neighborhood blanketed by snow.

As in years past, dignitaries from IUSD and the City of Irvine are making plans to visit local elementary schools to read the book aloud to children in kindergarten and first grade. In addition, elementary students in Irvine will hold a special book drive to benefit kids throughout the county who don't have age-appropriate reading material at home. We’re told that gently used books will be collected throughout the day and delivered to the Early Childhood Learning Center between noon and 5 p.m. There, they’ll be sorted and counted by IUSD students and members of Team Kids, a local group that facilitates service-learning projects. Children and their parents are invited to drop by the ECLC, located at 1 Smoketree Lane in Irvine, after 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 to help count books and to hear Assistant Superintendent Cassie Parham read “The Snowy Day.” To learn more about "Read for the Record," or to pledge to read on Oct. 7, click here.